Newt Gingrich has spent the better part of the past decade making inroads with Iowa’s most powerful Republicans, setting the stage for what his closest advisers say will be a spirited run for the presidency.

The former U.S. Speaker of the House, who made it official Wednesday that he is running for president, has high name recognition in Iowa. But some of the nation’s most highly skilled, well-known politicians have had trouble navigating the demanding waters of Iowa’s presidential caucuses.

Political leaders in Iowa who best know and revere him expect a two-pronged approach in the leadoff caucus state:

One track: He’ll spend a lot of time in Iowa, a route followed by most successful Iowa caucus candidates. That means “dozens and dozens” of days in Iowa, said former Polk County Republican director Will Rogers, a longtime supporter and now Iowa staff member for the Georgian Republican.

The other: Gingrich is already known to many Iowans, so he won’t have to the spend the time introducing himself that some of the lesser-known GOP candidates will. But the fiery and sometimes polarizing Newt Gingrich as House speaker in the 1990s also must in some ways refine his political approach for 2012.

As a presidential candidate, he is likely to be more thoughtful and careful with his statements so they don’t detract from the complex solutions he’ll propose for such issues as the national debt and spending reductions, said Iowa House Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Garner, who will be his Iowa campaign chairwoman.

Upmeyer — who has been in regular contact with Gingrich since an event she hosted for him about six years ago — describes him as “professorial” and “eggheadish” because of his love of policy.

“I absolutely think he has to frame it up pretty consciously without a doubt because you don’t have endless time,” Upmeyer said. “But you know what, those ideas that kind of make him a little eggheadish are the things that people love.”

Gingrich, 67, made his announcement Wednesday via an Internet video.

“I want your help because no one person in the oval office can get this done,” Gingrich said. “We Americans are going to have to talk together, work together, find solutions together and insist on imposing those solutions on those forces that don’t want to change.”

Gingrich has spent months raising money, assembling a campaign team and visiting early nominating states, including spending 10 days in Iowa in the past year. He also quietly opened a campaign headquarters in Atlanta, and has long been scheduled to address the Georgia Republican Party Convention on Friday in Macon.

Gingrich is scheduled to campaign in Iowa several days next week, including expected stops Monday in Des Moines, Dubuque and Cedar Rapids. He’s expected to make a swing through western Iowa later in the week. Specific details of his first Iowa campaign stops as an official candidate will be released by Friday, his campaign said.

A long history in politics, like Gingrich’s, can help or hurt a candidate depending upon how people view that history, said Arthur Sanders, a professor and chairman of Drake University’s politics and international relations department.

While Gingrich has faced criticism in the past about both his personal life and his politics, he’s also not been shy about pushing forward with ideas on issues, Sanders said.

“He’s a candidate that you have to put in the list of people who you have to take seriously and who could do quite well and could possibly win the nomination,” Sanders said.

Craig Schoenfeld, a Des Moines lawyer who will work as Gingrich’s Iowa campaign director, lobbied Gingrich to hire him. Schoenfeld was part of George W. Bush’s caucus team in Iowa in 2000 and then ran Bush’s general election campaign that year.

Schoenfeld said one of the common themes Iowans will see from Gingrich will be a focus of unity and the human thread that binds citizens and communities together.

“He’s a brilliant and an engaging man,” Schoenfeld said. “If people have a chance to get to know that person, I think they will be as smitten with him as I have been for years and years.”

Fifty-six percent of respondents viewed Gingrich favorably and 33 percent unfavorably in a June 2010 Iowa Poll of likely Republican primary voters. Only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney scored higher, with 62 percent favorability. Romney has formed a presidential exploratory committee but has not officially announced a 2012 run.

Gingrich has already done some outreach with social conservatives in Iowa. He’s been married three times, and had an affair with his current wife of 11 years during his second marriage. He converted a few years ago to Catholicism, and has met privately with Iowa clergy to discuss his faith and what he has publicly called mistakes.

A group connected to Gingrich also contributed $125,000 last year to a Mississippi nonprofit that financed much of an effort dear to the heart of many Iowa social conservatives: ouster of three members of the Iowa Supreme Court who participated in the decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

Gingrich will address any criticisms of his personal life directly if they become campaign issues, Upmeyer said. But she thinks Iowans will give Gingrich fair consideration.

“I don’t know anybody who hasn’t had personal issues at some point and on some level,” Upmeyer said. “He’s settled that with himself and his family, and I think that’s step one.”

Gingrich is fond of listening and talking with people, and that often plays a big part in Iowa caucus success, said former Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske. Ganske, a longtime friend of Gingrich’s, said he plans to advocate for Gingrich and help him raise money.

“When I look over the Republican field, it’s not just a matter of friends — although that enters into it — but I think he’s the best candidate to go against President Obama,” Ganske said. “I’d love to see them in a debate.”

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Newt Gingrich
BORN: June 17, 1943
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree, 1965, Emory University. Master’s degree, 1968, Tulane University. Doctoral degree, 1971, European history, Tulane.
ELECTIVE OFFICE: U.S. House, 1979-99.
OTHER POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS: U.S. Speaker of the House, 1995-1999.
OTHER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Gingrich was a college history teacher before seeking election. Since leaving office, Gingrich has become a highly sought-after public speaker and has been a regular Fox News Channel commentator. He is also chairman of the Gingrich Group, a communications and consulting firm in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
CURRENT HOME: McLean, Va.
FAMILY: His wife, Callista, is president of Gingrich Productions, a performance and production company. Gingrich has two daughters with his first wife, Jackie Battley.

What’s noteworthy about Gingrich
• Co-authored the Contract With America legislative agenda during the fall midterm campaigns in 1994. The agenda called for shrinking government, welfare reform, tax cuts and changes to laws governing lawsuit damages, among other initiatives.
• In 1995, became the first Republican U.S. House speaker in 40 years after Republican takeover of the House in the 1994 elections.
• Presided over spending cuts that put the federal budget on a path toward balancing, and changes to welfare laws that included incentives to find jobs and dramatically smaller federal rolls.
• In 1997, Gingrich was reprimanded by the House after ethics complaints were raised concerning use of a tax-exempt college course for political purposes. He paid $300,000 for the cost of investigating a final complaint as part of an agreement with House ethics investigators. The Internal Revenue Service later concluded there were no violations.
• He has written more than 20 books, including a series of historical fiction works on the Civil War and a 2010 release about George Washington at Valley Forge.

Other caucus-state connections
• Gingrich’s wife, Callista, is a 1988 graduate of Luther College in Decorah.
• One of Gingrich’s top political advisers, Joe Gaylord, is a Des Moines native and former executive director of the Iowa Republican Party.